Grandview Mountain. 31 August - 1, 4 September 2010

Two historical trips to the area visited by Otago's chief surveyor J.T. Thomson in 1857. General belief is that Thomson named Mount Aspiring on the occasion.
31 August - 1 September: We walked in via Grandview Creek (owned by Lake Hawea Station), camped on the summit of Grandview Mountain, then descended the spur south of Cameron Gully (Mount Grand Station). Party: Jaz Morris, Nina Dickerhof, Danilo Hegg
4 September: I returned by myself and walked part of the Grandview Track from Sandy Point. I identified two locations that match several details in Thomson's painting. Mount Aspiring is barely visible from the first location; it is not at all visible from the second one. I am now convinced that Mount Aeolus is the 'lofty snowclad peak' that Thomson named Aspiring.

'A high mountain which I named Pisa, as it carries on its summit a huge leaning rock remarkably like the Campanile Pisa' (J.T. Thomson, 18 Decmeber 1857). Thomson certainly carried a powerful telescope!

Mount Aspiring and Mount Alta from the first of the two locations. Mount Aspiring hardly stands out as a lofty conical peak, and is at the head of Lake Wanaka, not Lake Hawea. From the second location, Aspiring is hidden behind Mt Alta and not at all visible.